Breast cancer is a common malignancy among women. Early detection by screening mammography and an increasing array of treatment options have recently been successful in reducing breast cancer mortality. As both detection and systemic treatment of breast cancer continue to advance, lesion characterization is becoming increasingly important for determining appropriate therapy. Selection of the correct therapy can maximize treatment efficacy while minimizing treatment-related morbidity. There is an important need to characterize early breast cancers, especially their aggressiveness, to match the intensity of the treatment approach to the likelihood the tumor will recur or spread systemically. Furthermore, characterizing tumor biology helps identify appropriate targets for systemic therapy. Additionally, early response assessment can identify treatments likely to be ineffective, and direct alternate choices for treatment.
While positron emission tomography (PET) is increasingly used for advanced breast cancer, it has been less useful in early-stage breast cancer that presents as a smaller lesion in the breast. This is in part due to the limited spatial resolution offered by whole-body PET scanners. Accordingly, there exists a need for improved breast lesion imaging and characterization.